


No Hablo Español

by Oddree13



Series: Kliego Week 2020 [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Diego Hargreeves Speaks Spanish, Diego Hargreeves-centric, Español | Spanish, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus just wants to see Diego happy, M/M, Pseudo-Incest, Racism, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27282310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oddree13/pseuds/Oddree13
Summary: The first time Diego realizes he’s not like his siblings is when Mom names them.He’s five, and he doesn’t understand a lot about what is going on, but he’s told that if he wants he can go by this other name and not Number Two. He’s not sure at first but the way his mother smiles when she says his name makes him use it.It takes a bit for his tongue to get used to forming the sound, like all the other words in his vocabulary but he gets there. He’s in the middle of one of his speech therapy sessions with Mom when he asks how she chose their names.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves/Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Kliego Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985090
Comments: 13
Kudos: 81
Collections: Kliego Week 2020





	No Hablo Español

**Author's Note:**

> For the Kliego Week Prompt - Hurt/Comfort
> 
> All Spanish translations are at the end.
> 
> For what it's worth I'm queer and Latinx, so people keep that in mind while reading this.

The first time Diego realizes he’s not like his siblings is when Mom names them. 

He’s five, and he doesn’t understand a lot about what is going on, but he’s told that if he wants he can go by this other name and not Number Two. He’s not sure at first but the way his mother smiles when she says his name makes him use it. 

It takes a bit for his tongue to get used to forming the sound, like all the other words in his vocabulary but he gets there. He’s in the middle of one of his speech therapy sessions with Mom when he asks how she chose their names. 

“Well I asked your father where he adopted you all from and I gave you names from there,” she says brightly and pulls a globe from Diego’s desk. “He found your sister, Vanya, here in Russia,” she begins, and turns the globe pointing out where the rest of his siblings came from - Luther from England, Klaus from Germany, Allison and Ben both from the United States, and Five from Turkey.

“W-w-where am I f-from?” he asks, eagerly scanning his eyes over the globe, but his excitement ends when his mother looks unsure. 

“Well you know your Father, he’s a very busy man, and he didn’t get a chance to write down where he adopted you from. But he did tell me that he found you in Central America,” she continues, running her painted finger over the cluster of countries. “In Central America,” she continues, “they speak Spanish and Diego is a Spanish name, which is why I picked it for you.”

Diego just nods. He’s not sure why his stomach twists the way it does. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t know how to make words come out in the right way, or maybe it’s because his name is still heavy on his tongue. It would only be years later when he looks back on the memory that it was a pang of knowing there’d always be a piece missing from him. 

***

“Children, it’s time for you to learn another language,” their father declares during lunch and goes into a monologue about the advantages of multi-linguism in espionage settings. After he’s done droning, he lists the languages available for them to get individual tutoring on, and Diego listens for Spanish, but the option never comes. Sir lists out Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, Greek, Latin, French, German, and Russian, but not Spanish. Diego listens as his siblings choose their study, unwilling to voice an option until called on. 

“Number Two, what language are you beginning on? I know your grasp of English speech is still tenuous, however, writing and reading seem to be coming along,” he adds, making Diego shrink into himself a bit, his stuttering becoming more and more a problem for Sir. 

“I w-w-want to learn S-Spanish,” he gets out, looking up as he says it. Sir doesn’t like weakness after all. 

“That was not an option listed Number Two,” he answers curtly, but Diego repeats his request. “Number Two I will not tolerate these sorts of requests. I’ve listed here languages that will be of use to you. Anyone in a Spanish-speaking country worth knowing will speak English so get that notion out of your mind. Do you understand me?”

Diego wants to argue and push back but Klaus is giving him a pleading look across the table to just drop it. “Yes Sir. I’ll study French, thank you,” he adds, his hands gripping the arms of his chair as he concedes. 

***

“Busy,” Diego answers the knock on his door. The only people who knock are his siblings which means he can say no rather than open the door. 

“I don’t care if you have your pants down, open up before Sir catches me,” Klaus says from the other side of the door. 

Diego lunges to the door and swings it open, letting Klaus into his room. He doesn’t stop to think about what he might have on him that he couldn’t put in his room but he could ask those questions once the door is closed. 

“You are not h-hiding pot in my room,” Diego growls as Klaus begins to pull items out from under his shirt. 

“It’s not drugs. It’s tapes!”

Diego gets it. Luther only got his record player after he pleased Sir enough during press junkets, and he’s only allowed to play it at a low volume during their free time. Klaus on the other hand has a busted walkman that he found during one of his night walks and constantly manages to get tapes of music Sir would never approve of to share with him and Ben. 

Picking up one of the tapes, Diego reads ‘ _ Spanish for Beginners, Lesson 4 _ ’. He sifts through the cassettes and realizes that Klaus brought him anything that in Spanish he could get his hands on. 

“I don’t know how complete the set is but I bought the whole box from the guy. Said it was a mix of language tapes and music,” he explains, looking at the spines. 

Diego watches as Klaus plucks one from the pile and puts it into his walkman, pressing play. He turns up the volume, letting the headphones rest on the floor between them so they both can hear. The rhythm that comes from the speakers is nothing like Diego’s heard before - not from his ballroom lessons and not from Luther’s records - it’s new and exciting, and if Klaus isn’t lying, his. 

“How did you even get these?” Diego asks, his fingers eagerly running all the decks as the music blares on the floor. 

“The guy I get my tapes from wanted to get rid of these. Traded two of my joints for them,” Klaus explains, and Diego can’t help but ask why. 

“I just remembered you wanted to learn when we were younger...but dad said no. If it’s stupid I can get rid of them,” he tries, Diego watching as Klaus’ face look unsure, and Diego just slams his hand on top of Klaus’. 

“Don’t you dare. Thank you. Now I just need a walkman,” Diego smirks. 

“Oh!” Klaus exclaims and pulls out a cassette player from his pocket.

***

It’s the third week of the Academy, and Diego’s been doing his best to fly under the radar. His name brings enough attention as it is and he doesn’t want to draw more. But when asked by his trainer in front of the class, if he speaks Spanish, Diego shakes his head, unwilling to try and pass his cassette lessons as a skill, and suddenly some of the other recruits are staring at him. 

“Ah, so you’re a coconut,” Rameriez, says, prompting Diego to look confused. “You know, brown on the outside, white on the inside,” he explains, causing Diego to snap the pencil in his hand.

“Touchy subject then,” Rodriguez nods a little knowingly. “So what was it? Parents didn’t teach you, no interest, or did some  _ monja  _ beat you one too many times with a ruler for you to keep trying?”

“Adopted,” Diego spits out, and the two just nod in sympathy. 

“Well, I’m sure your gringo parents are happy they picked a  _ guero en vez de un morenito _ ,” Rameriez smirks, and Diego has no idea what that means, but he’s certain he shouldn’t be happy.

It’s only later when he gets home and picks up one of his many dog-eared dictionaries that he sees what the two were getting at, and his stomach drops. 

Racism isn’t particularly new to Diego. He, Allison, and Ben often talked about the weird comments they’d get during interviews or on the nights they’d sneak out. But it’s only now, out of the confines of the Academy, that Diego’s recognizing the racism built into the Academy, courtesy of one Reginald Hargreeves. So as his fingers pass the word  _ moreno _ , he wonders if a few shades meant the difference between being stolen or being passed over. 

***

“ _ ¿Oye, miraste a este maricón? ¿Crees que lo detuvieron por solicitar? _ ”

“ _ No. Tratando de comprar drogas. Pero piense que el tipo de chico que mama en vez de pagar. _ "

Diego doesn’t look up from his desk. He’s been keeping up the facade of not understanding Spanish despite the lessons and his increasing fluency that has earned him the praise and smiles of all the  _ abuelitas  _ on his block. So he rolls his eyes, trying to ignore his homophobic teammates, knowing he’s one fight away from another trip to the Captain’s office. 

He succeeds in ignoring the booking going on behind him until he sees Patch looking over his shoulder, her eyes wide with worry. 

“Diego don’t do anything stupid,” she whispers, but Diego doesn’t process what she says. All he can see is Klaus handcuffed to a bench, the officers around him continuing their insults and jokes, making Diego see red.

“ _ Céspedes, tienes una oportunidad de callarte, si no quieres que yo te callas,”  _ Diego spits, walking over, his fist curling as if he is itching for a fight. At his voice Klaus looks up, his eyes wide in recognition and embarrassment.

_ “Mira, a este chairo! ¡Finalmente usando español! Y para qué? ¡Por un puta!  _ Diego, just let us book this guy and go back to your own paperwork,” Rameriez offers, but Diego just shakes his head.

“Can’t just let you do that,” he starts but is cut off by Klaus calling his name, clearly telling his brother that he’s fine.

“¿ _ Conoces este pinche fresa _ ? ¿ _ Lo has contratado antes _ ? Is he any good with his mou-” Céspedes tries to get out before Diego punches him square in the jaw. 

Several hours later Diego is walking out of the precinct, Klaus walking by his side looking worried. 

“You lost your job, Diego...I’m not worth that..." Klaus says as they get to his car. 

“Believe me, you’re more than worth it,” he grunts, climbing into the driver’s seat. “Come on, let’s go to mine. You can sleep it off there.”

Later as Diego is curled around Klaus, his brother breaks the silence in his boiler room. 

“Your Spanish is getting really good Gogo,” he says, and Diego can’t help but laugh. 

***

“Cuban,” Klaus smirks as they sit in the Academy living room, back in their proper timeline. His brother’s been recollecting their 1960s adventure, having picked up a book about the decade to see if any of their antics stayed in this timeline. His fingers have just passed a page on the Cuban Missile Crisis and it seems Klaus remembers what the news anchor had said about Diego back then. 

_ “The FBI believes they may have been acting in concert with the alleged shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald...A Cuban exile known only as Diego who recently escaped from the Holbrook Sanitarium..." _

“Yeah, I’m not Cuban.”

“Is that so? I actually don’t know where Dad stole you from come to think of it,” Klaus recalls, turning his body so his legs rested over Diego’s lap. 

“Well, that makes two of us. Three if you include Sir. He didn’t bother to remember where he took me from. I asked Mom years ago when she named us and the most I could get from her was Central America. Whereas he wrote down the literal city the rest of you came from. I even checked that _ hijo de puta’s _ journal and nothing.”

“Yeah, that sounds like dear old Reggie..." Klaus agrees before falling quiet. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to put a damper on your reading,” Diego says after some time, and Klaus just waves him off. 

“No, no, I just had a thought. Gonna go chase it,” he replies and walks off leaving Diego confused.

*

Klaus’s thought comes to fruition a week later. Diego is in his room, doing his best to arrange it so it looks like an adult’s room instead of some children’s shrine when Klaus walks in. 

“Gogo, I need your spit.”

“Huh, I usually only hear that when we have our clothes off,” Diego replies, grinning, wondering if Klaus has come to consecrate his new queen size bed. 

“As delicious as that image is, I need you to spit into a tube, not on my asshole,” he says, and hands Diego the box in his hand. 

“What is this Klaus?” Diego asks, taking the tube from his hand. 

“It’s a DNA test..." he answers, clearly trying to gauge Diego’s reaction. “I bought them for all of us. Dad always kept the details vague and I figured if you wanted to know, we all might want to.”

Diego takes the box and just stares at it. He doesn’t know why he never thought about doing this. Maybe some part of him is afraid to know the answer, that the identity he’s built up in his head isn’t real or will change him. But looking up he sees the hopeful look in his boyfriend’s eyes and knows that it's a worthwhile risk. 

“Right let’s do this.”

*

The results come in a month later. Diego’s clutching the envelope like a lifeline, unsure of what he’s going to find. 

“You open it,” he decides, passing the results to Klaus, who plucks in gently from Diego’s grasp and rips it open. He scans the paper quickly before giving Diego a smile and turns it around for him to see. 

“Seems like my suggestion for a honeymoon in Mexico was a good call after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> monja - a nun  
> guero en vez de un morenito - a light skinned person versus someone darker  
> moreno - individuals of dark skin tones  
> ¿Oye, miraste a este maricón? ¿Crees que lo detuvieron por solicitar? - Hey have you seen this faggot? You think that he got picked up for solicitation?  
> No. Tratando de comprar drogas. Pero piense que el tipo de chico que mama en vez de pagar.- No, he got arrested trying to buy drugs. But I think he's the kind of guy who sucks to pay for his drugs  
> abuelitas - old ladies/ grandmother  
> Céspedes, tienes una oportunidad de callarte, si no quieres que yo te callas - Cespedes, you have one chance to shut up before I shut you up  
> Mira, a este chairo! ¡Finalmente usando español! Y para qué? ¡Por un puta! - Look at this SJW, finally using spanish! And for what? A whore?  
> ¿Conoces este pinche fresa? ¿Lo has contratado antes? - Do you know this fag? Have you hired him before?  
> hijo de puta - son of a bitch


End file.
